* '''hundredweight''' - the pun in Tolkien's description of Bilbo's 112th birthday as a "Hundredweight Feast" is based on the fact that in Britain a hundredweight is 112 pounds. <ref>[[Wayne G. Hammond]], [[Christina Scull]], ''[[The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion]]'', p. 74.</ref><ref>[[Mark T. Hooker]], ''[[The Hobbitonian Anthology]]'', pp. 160-164.</ref>

* '''hundredweight''' - the pun in Tolkien's description of Bilbo's 112th birthday as a "Hundredweight Feast" is based on the fact that in Britain a hundredweight is 112 pounds. <ref>[[Wayne G. Hammond]], [[Christina Scull]], ''[[The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion]]'', p. 74.</ref><ref>[[Mark T. Hooker]], ''[[The Hobbitonian Anthology]]'', pp. 160-164.</ref>

* '''hunter's moon''' - the full moon of mid- to late October

* '''hunter's moon''' - the full moon of mid- to late October

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* '''hythe''' - a small harbour or haven, especially on a river

+

* '''hythe''' - a small harbour or haven, especially on a river, "low place on a river bank for landing a boat"<ref>{{webcite|author=[[Andreas Möhn]]|articleurl=http://lalaith.vpsurf.de/Tolkien/Bombadil_in_the_Shire.html|articlename=Bombadil in the Shire|dated=|website=Lalaith |accessed=16 May 2012}}</ref>

Latest revision as of 23:28, 5 November 2012

Within J.R.R. Tolkien's works, there are many uncommon, archaic, obsolete and dialectal words (especially from the dialects of the United Kingdom) which might cause confusion to readers and may make a passage of text appear unwieldy.

fey -The old senses were ‘fated, approaching death; presaging death’. It seems very unlikely that the later sense ‘possessing or displaying magical, fairylike, or unearthly qualities’ (O.E.D. Supplement) was intended.

field - background color on a flag or shield in heraldry.

figured - marked with drawings or writing

firth - An inlet of the sea at a wide river estuary

flagon - large jug or mug, usually used to hold wine or beer

flammifer - in Latin, flammifer means "fiery", but Tolkien's usage is likely meant to suggest "flame-bearer", as a reference to the blazing Silmaril borne by Eärendil.

leaguer - an encampment or encampments, especially for defensive purposes

leave - permission

lee - shelter, especially from wind and weather

leech - healer

leechcraft - the practice of magical medicine. The name is based on the Celtic word for stone. The animal leech (Latin: sanguisuga, literally: blood sucker) is named for the healer (leech), rather than the other way around. [5]

legendarium - term coined by Tolkien to mean the entirety of his works concerning his imagined world of Eä

V

viol - an old instrument, usually with six strings, similar to a violin but held in a vertical position like a 'cello

W

waif - homeless person

wain - wagon; The Wain the constellation of the Plough or Big Dipper

wan - pale

wards - the "teeth" of a key

ware - old form of aware

waver - shimmer, flicker

waver2 - show indecision

wax - grow stronger; increase

waylay - intercept, prevent from going forward

wayward - uncontrollable, unpredictable

web(s) - woven fabric

wellnigh - almost, very nearly

weregild - a payment in compensation for a death (literally "man-money")

wheedle - coax, persuade

whelm - engulf, cover

whence - from where

whereat - for which reason

wherefore - for what (or which) reason

whet - sharpen

whickering - The verb whicker meant to laugh or titter, or of a horse to whinny, but the O.E.D. cites a line from Masefield the wall-top grasses whickered in the breeze, and the 1920 Supplement to the Dictionary gives a meaning "to make a hurtling sound", with a single citation where the word is used of a thunderbolt "whickering through the sky". In the 1962 version of The Man in the Moon the word flickering occurs in this verse.